Cabbage Rolls
A classic and flavorful recipe, these Cabbage Rolls are a classic dinner recipe everyone loves and they always come back for seconds!
AN EASY CABBAGE ROLL RECIPE
Stuffed Cabbage Rolls are a classic, comforting recipe that has been around for ages. This is one of those meals that I really enjoy making. It’s just such a comforting meal that has such great memories for me. With a seasoned, meaty filling that is wrapped in cabbage and surrounded by a tomato based sauce, it’s a filling and hearty dinner recipe. You just can’t go wrong with this one. I find that even those that don’t love cabbage still enjoy eating this because that cabbage flavor is really transformed after it is all done baking and the flavors have melded together. So good!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Sugar cuts down on the acidity of the tomatoes. You’ll find nearly all good tomato sauce recipes have a little bit of sugar to balance out the flavors.
Instead of microwaving, you can cook the whole cabbage in a large pot of boiling salted water until the leaves are soft enough to remove without tearing. Or you may remove the leaves and cook the leaves in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes each.
Keep it simple since the stuffed cabbage rolls are a pretty filling meal by themselves. Steamed or roasted broccoli, corn on the cob, egg noodles, German spaetzle, garlic bread and/or a salad.
Yes, they will still be delicious with just the ground beef. Use 1 pound of ground beef and don’t worry about the pork. Keep everything else the same. I would stick to a lower fat beef though so too much grease isn’t released.
Yes, you can cover and refrigerate or freeze the cabbage rolls unbaked. When they are filled, placed in the pan, and covered in tomato sauce, you may then keep them in the fridge for a day before baking, or in the freezer for up to a month before baking.
Yes. The meat will fully cook in the oven when you are baking the cabbage rolls.
I remove that hard center ridge from each cabbage leaf to create two smaller leaves to make them easier to roll up. Doing this also creates a softer and easier to eat cabbage roll. But if it doesn’t bother you, then you can certainly leave it in and create larger rolls.
Yes! I actually have a recipe for Crock Pot Cabbage Rolls that you can use if you prefer to make it in the crock pot.
Cabbage rolls can be frozen. Place in a freezer container and they will keep for up to 1 month. Let defrost in the refrigerator overnight. If you just want to store leftovers, place them in an airtight container where they will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- cooked white rice – this recipe is perfect for leftover rice. You could certainly use cauliflower or brown rice if that is what you prefer.
- cabbage – look for a large and firm cabbage with leaves that aren’t soft or brown on the ends.
- ground beef and ground pork – I like to use a combination of the two. It adds lot of flavor. However, you can just choose one or the other if you prefer. I would stick with a lower fat meat so too much grease isn’t released.
- onion – I usually go with a sweet yellow onion (like a Vidalia). You could also use a shallot which would give a slight garlic flavor.
- salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder – these are my preferred seasonings but use what you enjoy.
- tomato soup – this is going to give it creaminess and flavor instead of just using regular tomato sauce because tomato soup has additional seasoning in it as well.
- diced or crushed tomatoes – I prefer diced but if you don’t like tomato chunks then get the crushed.
HOW TO MAKE CABBAGE ROLLS:
Spray a 9×13-inch baking pan. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Use a long, thin knife to remove the core from the head of the cabbage. Place the cabbage in a covered microwave-safe dish with ½ cup of water. Cook on high power for 5 minutes. Turn the cabbage over and cook for another 10 minutes. Drain the water out of the cabbage bowl completely and allow it to cool enough to handle.
Then, peel the leaves off one at a time and allow them to dry and fully cool on a kitchen towel. While the cabbage is cooling, stir together the ingredients to fill the rolls. Combine the rice, ground beef, ground pork, chopped onion parsley, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. Set this aside. Mix the tomato soup, diced/crushed tomatoes, and sugar in a separate bowl. Set this aside.
Pat the cabbage leaves dry with paper towels. Remove the hard ridges in the center of the cabbage leaves with a knife, creating two separate pieces. These would be very difficult to roll up if you didn’t do that. Taking one cabbage leaf at a time, place about 1 ½ to 2 Tablespoons of filling into each leaf. Roll up the leaf and tuck the ends under. Continue with the rest of the rolls.
Pour half of the sauce into the base of the baking dish. Place rolls seam-side down into the baking dish. Place the cabbage rolls in two long rows, close to each other. (If your dish is smaller and you must layer the cabbage rolls, cover each layer with some tomato sauce.) Then pour the rest of tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls.
Cover the pan tightly with tin foil and bake for 90 minutes.
Let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Cabbage Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 large head cabbage
- ¾ cup cooked white rice
- ½ pound ground beef
- ½ pound ground pork (see notes below)
- 1 small onion, small diced
- 1 Tablespoon freshly chopped parsley (optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 10 ounce can tomato soup
- 15 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
- Use a long thin knife to remove the core from 1 large head cabbage.
- Place the cabbage in a covered microwave-safe dish with ½ cup of water. Cook on high power for 5 minutes.
- Turn the cabbage over and cook for another 10 minutes. Drain the water out of the cabbage bowl completely and allow it to cool enough to handle.
- Then, peel the leaves off one at a time and allow them to dry and fully cool on a kitchen towel.
- While the cabbage is cooling, stir together the ingredients to fill the rolls. Combine ¾ cup cooked white rice, ½ pound ground beef, ½ pound ground pork, 1 small onion, small diced, 1 Tablespoon freshly chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder and ½ teaspoon pepper. Set this aside.
- In a separate bowl, mix 10 ounce can tomato soup, 15 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes and ½ teaspoon sugar. Set this aside.
- Pat the cabbage leaves dry with paper towels. Remove the hard ridges in the center of the cabbage leaves with a knife, creating two separate pieces. These would be very difficult to roll up if you didn't do this (it's also easier to eat without that ridge).
- Taking one cabbage leaf at a time, place about 1 ½ to 2 Tablespoons of filling into each leaf.
- Roll up the leaf and tuck the ends under. Continue with the rest of the rolls.
- Pour half of the tomato mixture in the base of the dish.
- Place rolls seam-side down into the baking dish. Place the cabbage rolls in two long rows, close to each other. (If your dish is smaller and you must layer the cabbage rolls, cover each layer with some tomato sauce.)
- Then pour the rest of the tomato sauce over all of the rolls.
- Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 90 minutes.
- Let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
- All ground beef can be used in this recipe instead of a beef and pork mixture. Just make sure you use a lean ground beef.
- Make sure you are using cooked rice.
- I would stick with lower fat meat so too much grease isn’t released while cooking.
- The sugar added to the tomato sauce cuts down the acidity.
- These can be frozen, see my tips above.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
what temp do you bake these at and for how long
Hi Charlene! Everything you need is in the recipe card above the comment section here 🙂
We like to add some drained sauerkraut into the tomato sauce. Also top before baking. Good Eastern European addition
We liked the combo of beef and pork a lot. I did just ground beef this time and it was very good both ways. Thank you for this recipe!
I do not recommend freezing the cabbage head that was the first time I tried it from a tip from commenters. First of all you have to thaw out the Frozen cabbage head which I thought wouldn’t take long and it took five hours and I still had to run hot water on it. then after making the cabbage rolls the cabbage tasted chewier than any cabbage rolls I’ve ever made. I will definitely will blanche in the future.
as far as this particular recipe goes I was worried about because there wasn’t any seasonings but it turned out fine other than it was a little too sweet so I might cut back on the sugar even though there was very minimal sugar in it.
I also used all pork because I have a beef allergy. So to offset that I used beef bouillon but I didn’t use enough to make it beefy. it still tasted great except for the chewy cabbage leaves so if your experimenting like me that’s some advice
I was so confused when you mentioned freezing cabbage that I had to go back & look at my recipe because I never mentioned about freezing cabbage – ha! My only complaints about comments is people give well intentioned advice and others follow it & then it doesn’t work.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe itself though. Thanks for commenting!
I made a few changes to mine, but followed the main recipe and process. They turned out wonderful! Thanks for the recipe!
These were delicious! The only thing that I added was a couple of tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and minced garlic to the meat mixture. Family love them!
That is so wonderful to hear Nancy – thanks so very much!
This recipe is excellent. They are just like my Mom made. My husband couldn’t believe how good they were and he is a picky eater.
Recipe sounds amazing and I will give it a whirl. I have been craving me some cabbage rolls recently and bought a cabbage a couple of days ago in preparation for making some. I have made cabbage rolls a few times and always struggle with separating the leaves. I like your idea of using the microwave. What I have done, with success, was freezing the entire cabbage, thawing it and then pulling off the leaves – no need to blanch or cook (read: no cabbage-y smell permeating the house!). Another tip I read and tried was instead of cutting out the thick ridge was to shave off some of it so that it is flat like the remainder of the leaf. Much easier to roll. Finally….I do not eat beef but I do eat venison so have made these with that…as well as using ground chicken or turkey. All are great! Thanks for your recipe – I have printed off so many of your recipes, I need to create a folder just for your creations!!!
I’ve never had luck with freezing cabbage or cabbage leaves – I think it really changes the texture when thawed.